Citation Nr: 18154531
Decision Date: 11/30/18	Archive Date: 11/30/18

DOCKET NO. 10-35 092
DATE:	November 30, 2018
ORDER
Entitlement to service connection for a thoracolumbar spine disorder is dismissed.
Entitlement to service connection for a cervical spine disorder is dismissed.
FINDING OF FACT
After the appeal was transferred to the custody of the Board, VA was notified that the Veteran died in October 2018.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. Due to the death of the Veteran, the Board has no jurisdiction to adjudicate the merits of the Veteran’s claim for entitlement to service connection for a thoracolumbar spine disorder at this time.  38 U.S.C. § 7104 (2012); 38 C.F.R. § 20.1302 (2018).
2. Due to the death of the Veteran, the Board has no jurisdiction to adjudicate the merits of the Veteran’s claim for entitlement to service connection for a cervical spine disorder at this time.  38 U.S.C. § 7104 (2012); 38 C.F.R. § 20.1302 (2018).
REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS
The Veteran served on active duty from October 1982 to May 1993.
This matter comes to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a March 2009 rating decision of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) regional office.  
In February 2012, the Veteran testified at a personal hearing before the Board.  A transcript of the hearing is of record.
These matters were previously before the Board, and, in March 2014, November 2016, and September 2017, the Board remanded these matters for further development.
Entitlement to service connection for a thoracolumbar spine disorder and a cervical spine disorder is dismissed.
Unfortunately, the Veteran died during the pendency of the appeal.  As a matter of law, a Veteran’s claims do not survive death.  Zevalkink v. Brown, 102 F.3d 1236, 1243-44 (Fed. Cir. 1996); Smith v. Brown, 10 Vet. App. 330, 333-34 (1997); Landicho v. Brown, 7 Vet. App. 42, 47 (1994).  This appeal on the merits has become moot by virtue of the death of the Veteran and must be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.  See 38 U.S.C. § 7104; 38 C.F.R. § 20.1302.
In reaching this determination, the Board intimates no opinion as to the merits of this appeal or to any derivative claim brought by a survivor of the Veteran.  38 C.F.R. § 20.1106. 
The Board’s dismissal of this appeal does not affect the right of an eligible person to file a request to be substituted as the appellant for purposes of processing the claim to completion.  Such request must be filed not later than one year after the date of the Veteran’s death.  See 38 U.S.C. § 5121A; 38 C.F.R. § 3.1010.  A person eligible for substitution includes “a living person who would be eligible to receive accrued benefits due to the claimant under section 5121(a) of this title.” 38 U.S.C. § 5121A; see 38 C.F.R. § 3.1010.  An eligible party seeking substitution in an appeal that has been dismissed by the Board due to the death of the claimant should file a request for substitution with the VA office from which the claim originated.  38 C.F.R. § 3.1010.
 
BARBARA B. COPELAND
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	David R. Seaton, Associate Counsel